Some of the shine was knocked off with Southern California's shootout loss last week at Arizona, but No. 2 Oregon can still expect one of its toughest tests to date when the Ducks take their 12-game road winning streak to the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday to face the No. 17 Trojans. The Ducks have rolled through their early schedule, winning their first eight games by at least 17 points, but they're set to face three Top 25 teams this month, including a pair against North Division rivals Stanford (home) and Oregon State (road). USC has little margin for error left in its quest for a Pac-12 South Division title after last week's 39-36 loss in which Arizona scored 26 consecutive points to rally from a 15-point second-half deficit. The Trojans are tied with UCLA atop the division and are one game ahead of Arizona and Arizona State.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Fox. LINE: Oregon -8
ABOUT OREGON (8-0, 5-0 Pac-12): The Ducks are off to an 8-0 start for the second time in three years on the strength of an explosive offense led by freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota (1,483 passing yards, 18 touchdowns, five interceptions) and senior running back Kenjon Barner (974 rushing yards, 14 TDs). Oregon ranks seventh in the nation in total offense (540.1 yards per game). The defense has been susceptible at times and will be tested against a talented Trojans' offense.
ABOUT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (6-2, 4-2): A season that began with national title aspirations can still be salvaged if the Trojans can win out, but that will require a much better defensive effort than USC saw in the second half at Arizona. The offense is capable of hanging with anyone, though, if quarterback Matt Barkley (2,266 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, eight interceptions) can get on the same page with his impressive crew of receivers led by Marqise Lee (1,129 receiving yards, 10 TDs) and Robert Woods (585 receiving yards, nine TDs). Lee had a Pac-12 record 345 receiving yards last week.
EXTRA POINTS
1. Barner needs 26 rushing yards to become the 15th Oregon player to run for 1,000 yards in a season, and needs 43 all-purpose yards to become the third Duck with 5,000 in his career.
2. USC's next victory will be the 800th in school history, which ranks ninth all-time.
3. Barkley needs one completion to tie Carson Palmer (927) for the most in USC history, and needs four to tie Arizona's Nick Foles (930) for the Pac-12 record.
PREDICTION: Oregon 41, Southern California 30